Videocon to dial 4G; offer competitionto RIL, Airtel

Videocon Telecommunications Ltd (VTL), a mobile service provider in six circles, is all set to take on Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and Bharti Airtel by launching affordable 4G services bundled with handsets by the end of 2013-14.

"We are known for providing value for money to customers. Our tariffs for 4G will be among the lowest in the country," said Arvind Bali, director and CEO, VTL.

The company currently provides 2G services in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh (East), Uttar Pradesh (West) and Bihar. It won spectrum in November 2012 in these circles and is allowed to offer 3G and 4G services also.

"Videocon group has its own handset company. It is natural for us to give an option of affordable and good quality smartphones to our customers," said Bali. "The exact price and tariff is yet to be worked out."

Though it VTL is a new entrant, it has already acquired more than four million customers in 2G services and has already invested more than $2 billion in telecom projects.

"We plan to start rollout our 4G services by end of this financial year. However, it will be in a phased manner. We will be rolling out city by city based on the potential across our six circles," said Bali.

"We are in advanced stage of discussion with Nokia Solutions and Networks (NSN) for deployment of 4G. Their technical team is working on the commercials involved and is likely to give us their final recommendation within a month."